Re: building GNOME vs writing docs

[Brent Smith <gnome nextreality net>]

Shaun McCance wrote:
> On Tue, 2006-02-07 at 21:29 +0000, Simos Xenitellis wrote:
>
> > O/H Shaun McCance έγραψε:
> >
> > > On Sun, 2006-02-05 at 12:07 +0000, Joachim Noreiko wrote:
> > >  
> > >
> > > > Our situation is that we need writers. We need to
> > > > lower the barriers to entry, and one of them is
> > > > expecting new doc writers to build themselves a
> > > > complete GNOME from CVS before they can write
> > > > documentation.
> > > >
> > > > My experiences would suggest that expecting doc
> > > > writers to build GNOME themselves isn't feasible.
> > > >    
> > >
> > > [snipped insightful material for expediency]
> > >
> > >  
> > >
> > > > Here are my ideas for discussion, please add your own:
> > > >
> > > > * provide binaries of apps that doc writers can
> > > > download and run
> > > > * ask people who can compile to write brief summaries
> > > > of what's new, that doc writers can then clean up
> > > > * make scripts that can build you a single app from
> > > > CVS with one command
> > > >    
>
> [snip]
>
> > > One possible solution is to provide Live CDs at every
> > > unstable point release.  Doing so would undoubtedly
> > > help the bug hunting efforts as well.  But it's a huge
> > > undertaking.
> > >  
> >
> > Another option is to create a virtual machine suitable for VMWare 
> > Player. It should be easy for the developer and also for the 
> > documentation writer.
> > What you do here is you create such a virtual machine and let your 
> > technical writers run them with their VMWare Player.
> >
> > Some links.
> > 1. Free VMWare Player, available for Linux, Windows
> > http://www.vmware.com/products/player/
> > 2. Community developed virtual machines list
> > http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/vm/community.html
> >
> > The main advantages of a virtual machine over a Live CD are:
> > 1. The developer can easily create it and customise by removing unneeded 
> > parts to make it small
> > 2. No need to burn a CD
> > 3. Faster to boot than CD as it resides on the hard disk
> > 4. You can set the resolution by default to 800x600, which is friendly 
> > to screenshots.
> > 5. You can even take screenshot of GDM.
> > 6. Screenshots are saved either on the host OS or from within the 
> > virtual machine.
> >
> > I am not affiliated with VMWare.
>
>
> Hot damn, I never even thought of that.  That's quite
> possibly the coolest idea ever.  Whom do we need to
> pester to make this happen?
>
> --
> Shaun

I know Luis Villa was involved in creating live CDs last major release 
with snapshots of GNOME.   I'm not sure exactly how he did it, but
creating the actual virtual machine is a breeze, even using free
products such as a qemu (that remain compatible with VMPlayer).

I usually have no problem getting jhbuild to build  everything
(eventually).  I would be willing to create a virtual machine on a 
monthly basis during development release for this task.
task.


--
Brent Smith <gnome nextreality net>
IRC: smitten